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The new line from some Republicans on this election is that a GOP victory is not a validation for Republicans (which it isn’t) but a repudiation of Democrats (which it is). But they’ve got one thing wrong. Jeb “Hey I wanna be president too” Bush says its cuz the Dems went too far — that they “overreached.”

But he’s wrong. They didn’t go far enough. And a bunch of you thought it was wise to punish them for not going far enough, so you’re staying home. And, as GW Bush was foisted upon us by Nader voters, the next two years of noxious Republicanism will be the fault of the non-voters.

But not completely. Not even close. There’s plenty of blame to go around. You non-voters can rest easy that you’re not solely responsible for the hearings and impeachment proceedings and the tax cuts for the rich and all that we’re getting, thanks to the Republicans getting more votes than the Democrats. But you do win the honor of being the worst of the bunch.

Let’s take a quick look at who else shoulders the blame.

There’s the non-voters favorite target … I mean, excuse for not voting, President Barack Obama. He gets tarred for insisting on playing nice with a political party that initially vowed to make sure his administration failed and has now declared its principle purpose to make sure he’s a one-term president.

Right up there with the president are the spineless Democrats who fled the administration like rats from a sinking ship when the GOP noise machines started up. They could have fought back, countered the lies and obfuscations the Republicans spew out with amazing regularity. But they didn’t. They just gave up.

Then there’s the other Democrats – the blue dog variety that was never with the president in the first place. They didn’t have to flee because they we already hiding under the skirts of Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who, as the only moderate Republicans left in the country, get the blame for thinking that the rest of GOP cares anything about them just because they put an “R” by their names.

Which brings us to the rest of the Republicans — complete tools of corporate America, which pays them for making sure the rich get richer and everybody else goes to hell.

Republican voters are next — political neanderthals who lack the foresight of a grasshopper, voting for the corporations because they simply can’t be bothered to learn the truth and learn what the think is the truth from lying gasbags who make more money in an hour than they’ll see in a decade.

Yeah, I’m talking about the right wing media — Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the radio Republicans and Fox News, the GOP’s PR group.

But the one group that should get almost as much blame as the non-voters — my own beloved colleagues, who have decided that balanced coverage means picking one from column A and one from column B and letting them have their say before going onto the next topic, again with one from Column A and one from Column B.

It’s a stupid way go do journalism, as if there are only ever two sides to any issue. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: When you have two options from which to choose, you don’t have a choice. You have a dilemma. And yet over and over my precious colleagues give you but two options, even if one of those options is completely insane.

But worse that giving you but two options is their maddening refusal to offer any contest or explanation for the two sides they present, leaving us with the equally maddening prospect of figuring out just what the spin actually means, if anything.

My colleagues have shirked their responsibility to not only give you the news of the day but to give you the context and background you need to make a responsible decision. And worse still is that they’ve absolutely refused to do the work you need them to do — to dig into what the spinmeisters are saying the dredge up the truth.

In other words, dear colleagues, you really need to be calling bullshit.

When a candidate lies, call her on it. When he uses faulty logic, call him on it. This means you’ll actually have to prepare before your interviews instead of sitting around sipping bourbon with the interviewees, but I’m sure it’s not that hard. I do it every day. I just don’t get the high profile interviews and the tv time to show how important I am that I got this senator on the show. Or how I couldn’t get that senator and so had to settle for a couple of assholes who call themselves “strategists” but are really just experts at bullshit. Those guys my colleagues let get by with saying any old thing cuz they’re part of the analysis “team.”

So, because of the analysts, my colleagues, the right wing noise machine, TeaPublican voters, the Republicans in Congress, the last two moderate Republicans in the world, the blue dogs, the supposedly liberal Democrats in Congress, the president and the idiot progressives who think they’re so important that they’ll stay away from the polls to “show them,” we’re in for a very rocky two years before the next election.

If you thought Bush was bad, just you wait. If we’re lucky, the Senate won’t fall to the crazy along with the House. And hopefully we’ll find a cure in time for 2012, or else our worst nightmares will be sweet lullabies compared to the fascist right wing utopia we’ll be living under.

And we’ll have this year’s non-voters to thank for making sure that when we stepped on that slippery slope, it was to the right that we slipped. Because the only thing worse than voting against your interests is not voting at all.

I know I’ve spent my life dreaming I could be just like Bob Cratchit while my Republican overlords destroy not only the United States but the rest of the planet as well.

Meanwhile, rest assured that they’ll be getting theirs, along with their very rich friends.

But not you and me, and not even the deluded Republican voters who form their base.

Of course, we could just all get off our sorry asses and carry them down to the polling places and cast our ballots for sanity.

We can only hope, but that won’t get us very far. Voting will.

So, Wisconsin — do you really want Ron Johnson, a multi-millionaire who wants to eliminate Pell grants, would not allow abortions for any reason, and thinks that climate change is “crazy” to represent you in the Senate? Go vote Russ Feingold and prove the pollsters wrong.

California — come on. Carly Fiorina drove HP into the ground. Do you really think she’ll help your state? And Meg Whitman — who changes her positions depending on who’s asking — do you really think she can get you out of the cesspool the no-taxes crowd has put you in? Vote Barbara Boxer and Jerry Brown.

Alaska — Joe Miller is a corrupt tool for Sarah Palin, the quitter. He lies, he cheats. Even Lisa Murkowski is a better bet. But vote, Murkowski or better yet Scott McAdams.

Nevada — really? Half of you want Sharron Angle, a Christian Reconstructionist who is fighting Sharia law in towns that don’t exist so she can save the country for her version of biblical law? That’s insane. Harry Reid is an ass, and I sure hope there’s a challenge for him as Democratic leader, but don’t let the lunatic into the Senate. Vote Reid.

North Carolina — Sure, Heath Shuler is a blue dog, but he’s far more progressive than Jeff Miller. Vote Shuler.

Minnesota — don’t embarrass yourselves with Michelle Bachmann for another term in the House. Vote Tarryl Clark.

Get the picture? There’s a huge difference between Democrats and Republicans, even more than in 2008 and certainly more than in 2000.